Ponty Chadha in Africa in 2010. Ponty's son Monty (second from left) is also present.

A dispute over the Chhattarpur farmhouse - DLF-42 - was not the only trigger that led to the death of business tycoon and liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep in a bloody shootout. Hardeep allegedly wanted a bigger percentage in all future investments of Wave Inc, including real estate acquisitions, investigations have revealed.

Hardeep, in charge of a distillery and paper mill in Hargobindpur in Punjab, was not happy with his share in the family business. He wanted a bigger share of profits from Ponty's real estate business which, after his liquor enterprise, had turned into a cash cow. Police believe this long-simmering tension between the brothers flared up on Saturday, resulting in the shootout.

Two days after the incident, new details continue to emerge. Police on Monday said Hardeep was armed with two licenced pistols from which he fired at Ponty and his men.

Police further said that before reaching the Chhattarpur farmhouse, Ponty's men had barged inside another property which was in possession of Hardeep - G-19, a farmhouse at Bijwasan near the Kapasera border - where they thrashed Hardeep's workers.

Hardeep's relatives claimed there was no property dispute between the brothers. "There was no property dispute between them. We would have mediated if it would have been the case," said Harvinder Singh Sarna, Hardeep's father-in-law.

Sarna is an executive member of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee. Vivek Gogia, joint commissioner of police (southwest), in an offcamera briefing, added that the property dispute had not reached the court as far as the knowledge of investigators and the two brother's mother and community elders were trying to find an amicable solution to the disagreements between them.

Gogia further claimed that Ponty's men barged inside the farmhouse on Saturday morning and thrashed some of Hardeep's workers, took away their mobile phones, confined them and threw out some others. "Some fires were also shot in the air," he said.

Interestingly, Uttrakhand Minorities Commission chairman Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, in his complaint, contradicted the police version stating that Ponty and his men were at the gate of the farmhouse when Hardeep came and started firing.

Namdhari was at the farmhouse accompanying Ponty. Namdhari has also stated that Hardeep fired at Ponty's Land Cruiser and that he also had to duck bullets after which his PSO, Sachin Tyagi, opened fire in retaliation.

The Punjab Police personnel at the spot did not fire from their weapons. Charanjit Singh, a commandant from the 8th Battalion of Punjab Armed Police (PAP), who was at the Mehrauli police station, confirmed that none of the Punjab Police personnel at the spot had opened fire. "Ponty had one security guard from 82nd Battalion of PAP with him, while Hardeep had three personnel from 9th Battalion of PAP. Hardeep's three guards were on leave on Saturday," Charanjit said.

Twelve weapons - including three AK-47s and Beretta pistols - have been seized, apart from the three pistols - .32 bore, .30 bore and 9mm - used in the crime.

Points to ponder

Did the two brothers kill each other simply over a dispute over the Chhattarpur farmhouse, which is just a drop in the Rs 7,500-crore Wave Inc? Or was some other major dispute raging within the family triggering the shootout? How many rounds of bullets were actually fired? If over 40 rounds were fired - according to preliminary claims - how come only three persons were killed? How many people were actually present at the farmhouse during the shootout? How many of them were police personnel? How many were private guards? Were some influential politicians and mediators also present there?

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